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    Practices of Aesthetic Thinking

    Praktiken ästhetischen Denkens

    Institut für Theorie (ith) (bis 2019)

    The undersigned applicants to the Sinergia grant intend to establish a collaborative network of all four German-language universities of arts in Switzerland under a single unified research question. Morever, the applicants also intend to integrate partners from the other Swiss universities of arts (Geneva, Lausanne, Ticino)

    The research question has four basic components: (i) An inquiry into different “practices of aesthetic thinking”, which will contribute to research that is significant for both the philosophy of aesthetics as well as pedagogy at universities of arts, where research on fundamental theoretical principles has always been an implicit part of pedagogical practice. The project strives (ii) to expand upon what has only implicitly been “put into practice” (tacit knowledge), but which does normally not belong to the realm of the expressly known, in order to channel it into a discourse. The initiative therefore aims to spur discussion on concepts that refer to “aesthetic experience” and the topos of “research in the arts”, which has come to be used on an international scale in the research of the last decades. It also intends to stoke debate on the specific “knowledge” of aesthetic thinking (in contrast to scientific knowledge). In doing so, the collaboration places less focus on researching the arts as such and more on focus on aesthetics as a general concept. (iii) The applicants also view it as imperative to link the discussion back to the history of aesthetics and to the question of “truth in art”. (iv) With the ultimate aim of developing a self-contained epistemology of aesthetics, our project seeks to identify a specific form of knowledge in aesthetics distinct from other, conceptual, discursive or “propositional” forms of knowledge in the sciences and philosophy. Thus, as far as the current state of research goes, the research group applying for the grant intends to, first, establish more thorough theoretical foundations for “aesthetic thinking” and develop different conceptions of it (key words: “wit” of art, essayistic principle, practice of critique, radical self-reflection) by undertaking a close analysis of the ways they are put into practice; second, to link back the development of a set of independent criteria for evaluating art to both the history of the establishment of independent universities of arts and to the specific form of critique carried out by the arts in general and their various manifestations in individual works in particular; third, to draw conclusions from the conditions established by the Bologna Process for “aesthetic education” and the training at universities of arts. Fourth and beyond that, the group aims to delineate the consequences these questions have for the problem of judgment in the arts as well as for the formulation of criteria of for the critical evaluation of the arts, and to develop models for the evaluation of PhD projects in the arts. The applicants have opted against adhering to a conception of “research” borrowed from the natural sciences, which on the one hand, always raises the question of methodology and foundations, and, on the other, tends to subordinate art in favor of the criteria of scientism. Instead, the project seeks to place special weight on “reflection of the arts in the arts” that is irreducible to other forms of thinking. We conceive of this specific mode of artistic reflexivity as a form of thinking through practice. The general thesis is that practices themselves are not always bound up with a specific form of thinking (which is based in judgement), but that there are also forms of practices that performatively induce reflexivity. Thus, the group’s research necessitates, firstly, the historic exploration of the philosophical traditions of aesthetics (from Baumgarten to Adorno), secondly, a systematic exploration of discussions about non-propositional thinking in different fields, thirdly, an analysis of this thesis as it pertains to the multiplicity of the arts and aesthetic practices (fine arts, music, film, design etc.), and fourthly, a systematic comparison between the intrinsic “logics” of artistic and scientific practices of knowledge-production and their methods. Thus, from the very beginning, our research will take multiple perspectives into account. The crux of the project lies in comprehensively approaching the complexity of the topic from different angles and with the collaborating researchers’ distinct areas of expertise, which will complement one another. For this reason, the title uses the plural form: Practices of aesthetic thinking take diverse shapes; they show themselves in creative processes; they reveal different aspects of themselves in the distinct fields of arts. The four proposed work groups are linked to this: They encompass, respectively, philosophical, practical, historical, and educational approaches.

    Details

    • Research Focus
      • FSP Theorie der Ästhetik (bis 2019)
      • FSP Ästhetik
    • Applicant
      • Dieter Mersch (ith (bis 2019))
      • Silvia Henke (Hochschule Luzern, Design & Kunst)
      • Thomas Strässle (Hochschule der Künste Bern, Y Institut)
      • Nicolaj van der Meulen (Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst FHNW)
    • Team
      • Mira Fliescher (ith (bis 2019))
      • Michael Mayer (ith (bis 2019))
      • Katrin Stowasser (ith (bis 2019))
      • Veronika Timashkova (ith (bis 2019))
      • Dora Borer (FSP Ästhetik)
      • Aurel Sieber (Hochschule der Künste Bern)
      • Wiktoria Anna Furrer (Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst)
    • Resources
      • Project website
    • Duration

      01.03.2017 – 31.08.2021

    • Financing
      • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds SNF, Sinergia (01.03.2017 – 31.08.2021)
    • Research Approaches
      • Basic research
      • Artistic-scientific research
    • Disciplines

      Art Education, Fine Arts, Transdisciplinary

    • Keywords

      Ästhetisches Denken, Macht, Artistic Research, Kunst und Wissenschaft, Ästhetische Praktiken

    • More Links
      • Was heisst Ästhetisches Denken?

    Output

    • Monografien

      Henke, Silvia / Strässle, Thomas & Wiesel, Jörg (2020): Manifest der künstlerischen Forschung. eine Verteidigung gegen Ihre Verfechter. Berlin, Zürich: diaphanes.

    • Monografien

      Fliescher, Mira (2019): Der Witz der Kunst. Denkt Kunst. Zürich: diaphanes. Online unter: https://www.diaphanes.net/titel/der-witz-der-kunst-6063.

    • Monografien

      Mayer, Michael (2019): Melancholie und Medium. Das Schwache Subjekt, die Toten und die ununterbrochene Trauerarbeit. Passagen Philosophie. Wien: Passagen Verlag. Online unter: https://www.passagen.at/gesamtverzeichnis/philosophie/melancholie-und-medium/.

    • Ausstellungen, Konzerte, Aufführungen, Filmpräsentationen etc.

      Żmijewski, Artur / Furrer, Wiktoria / Gabrí, Carla / Kurilova-Markarjan, Ekaterina / Louveau, Nastasia / Ordoñez, María / Sevova, Dimitrina / Schulthess, Anja Nora / Timashkova, Veronika / Zingg, Valentina (2018): «100 Ways of Thinking. How to Teach Art?». 25.08.2018–04.11.2018. Kunsthalle Zürich. Online unter: http://kunsthallezurich.ch/en/100-ways-thinking.

    • Konzept, Organisation und Durchführung

      Strässle, Thomas / Henke, Silvia / Van der Meulen, Nicolaj / Wiesel, Jörg / Mayer, Michael / Stowasser, Katrin & Mersch, Dieter (2019): «Praktiken Ästhetischen Denkens». Tagung. 04.04.2019–05.05.2019. FHNW, Basel. Online unter: https://sinergia-pat.ch/.

    • Vorträge, Referate

      Timashkova, Veronika / Furrer, Wiktoria (2018): «Aesthetic Practice Hexagon». (Nordic Summer University) Artistic Research: Reflecting inside and out. 01.08.2018–01.08.2018. Farö, Sweden. Online unter: https://summersession2018.nsuweb.org.

    • Vorträge, Referate

      Furrer, Wiktoria (2016): «Donate to Curate or the art of micropractice». «Practicing communities. Transformative Societal Strategies of Artistic Research». 18.03.2016–20.03.2016. Riga.

    • Vorträge, Referate

      Furrer, Wiktoria (2016): «Transkulturelle Mikropraxis». Kunstunterricht in der postmigrantischen Gesellschaft. 01.01.2016–01.01.2016. Hochschule Luzern.